The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has expressed alarm over the increasing incidents of vandalism affecting the city’s water infrastructure, urging residents to stay vigilant and report any suspicious activities immediately.
BCC Director of Engineering Services, Engineer Sikhumbuzo Ncube, disclosed that in the past three months alone, the local authority had to repair four damaged water chambers in the Sizinda and Tshabalala areas.
“There are people who are deliberately vandalising council pipes to access water. As a city we cannot tolerate vandalism. In the last three months in Sizinda and Tshabalala, we had to repair four vandalised chambers,” he said during a recent water situation update meeting with residents on Wednesday.
“One pipe was near Sizinda, another pipe was replaced closer to Sizinda gardens, another pipe was opposite Sizinda flats and a 225 millimeter pipe was also repaired in Tshabalala.”
Eng. Ncube said the affected pipes are part of the main supply line from Criterion, which delivers water to Magwegwe.
“Once you vandalise those pipes, it means water is not reaching Magwegwe reservoir and also affects other residents,” he stated.
The engineer emphasised that while the perpetrators may benefit a small group of about 20 people, their actions disadvantage nearly 200 000 residents.
Acting Town Clerk, Sikhangele Zhou, stated that the local authority is considering publicly naming and shaming individuals involved in vandalising city infrastructure.
“We once intercepted a sewer truck belonging to an individual named Mbedzi. The painful part about this case is that the truck, clearly marked ‘sewer’, was used to illegally access water. The individual would connect the septic tank pipe to a water pipe, posing a significant contamination risk,” Zhou said.
Zhou said BCC immediately dispatched their two laboratories to the scene to assess the extent of contamination.
“We conducted immediate tests and there was a bit of contamination at the valve but downstream, the water was clean. Both the laboratories tested the water and residents were not in danger but we closed the water immediately for safety. This vandalism puts pressure on us,” said the acting town clerk.
Zhou also mentioned that the motives behind water theft are unclear
“We don’t know where this (Mbedzi) individual was taking the water to. Maybe he sells it to the residents. He said he was going to clean his toilets but you can never trust a person. This is why we are urging residents to call us when they see vandalism going on. We need that information immediately so that we can take some remedial action,” she said.
She also lamented that simply noting a vehicle’s number plate may not be enough ‘evidence,’ since thieves sometimes use stolen plates for unlawful operations.
